The whole book is selected according to the scope and genre of the research object. The first volume is mainly about the basic theory of folk literature and the history of folk literature, including articles about classic writers such as Ma, En, Lenin and Mao Zedong, as well as Gorky, Lu Xun and other folk literature theories and viewpoints. There are works by Guo Moruo, Zhou Yang, Lao She, Zhao, Jia Zhi, Mao Xing and Tian Ying on the nature, function, value and boundary of folk literature and its significance in general literary creation such as poetry, and there are also discussion papers by He Qifang and others on the collection, recording, research and translation of minority folk literature works. There are also Zhong Jingwen's On the History of Folk Literature and Art in the Late Qing Dynasty and the May 4th Movement and Tian Ying's On the History of Folk Literature and Art in the Liberated Areas.

This book collects articles about folk songs, folk singers, epics and folk narrative poems. Among them, there are theoretical discussions on the ideological content and artistic form of folk songs, such as Talking about Folk Songs by Yan Chen, The Law of New Folk Songs Creation by Tian Ying, Folk Songs-Mother of Poetry by Zhou Jianming, Bi Xing in Folk Songs by Yu Xu, etc. Folk songs such as "Flowers" and "Mountaineering Songs" and folk songs such as love songs and nursery rhymes, as well as articles on folk songs in various periods (such as civil revolutionary wars and socialism); The introduction and research of famous folk singers such as Li Youyuan, Wang, Kang Langshuai and other folk poets' self-summary of folk creation experience, etc. There are also papers on the ideological content, artistic form, generation age, spread area and main heroes of China's famous epics, such as Biography of King Gesar, Jianger, Manas and A Shi Precedent, as well as the collection and arrangement of these epics and the introduction of the research status in the world.

The second volume collects articles about myths, legends, folk stories, jokes, proverbs and riddles. Among them, Yuan Ke and others tell myths, Jia Zhi and Mao Xing tell folk stories, Ge Baoquan tells witty figures, and Gu Jiegang tells legends such as Meng Jiangnu, Legend of White Snake, Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and Lu Ban. There are monographs on peasant uprising legends, animal stories, witty characters' stories and long-term landlord stories, and papers on the contents, characteristics and expression techniques of proverbs and riddles.